L.A.'S BICKERING PLAYERS DON'T LOOK LIKE CONTENDERS ONE PITCHER HAS GRIFFEY'S NUMBER REDS BECOME CHESSMATES

Dodgers manager Bill Russell was talking to reporters beforebatting practice at Oakland Coliseum last Thursday night when hewas knocked down by a stray baseball. Russell scrambled to hisfeet and without hesitation mumbled, "Who threw that, one of mypitchers?"

Over a four-day stretch the previous week, Russell had engagedin confrontations with two of his hurlers, Ismael Valdes andPedro Astacio. Valdes didn't appreciate being pulled for a pinchhitter, and Astacio had to be restrained by coaches in thedugout after Russell had yelled at him during a meeting on themound. But those were merely the most public battles within thisfractured franchise.

Many members of the Los Angeles pitching staff are convincedthat Russell, in his first full season on the job, givespreferential treatment to position players and that stars arepampered. On April 26, just 35 minutes after centerfielder BrettButler held a players meeting to discuss unity, Valdes and firstbaseman Eric Karros challenged each other in the shower. "Thisis the toughest thing I've ever been through in baseball," saysRussell, who has been in the Dodgers' organization as a player,coach or skipper since 1966.

In spring training many observers believed the Dodgers woulddominate the National League West and duel the Braves for thepennant. Instead, at week's end they had lost 20 of their last30 games and were mired in third place in the West at 32-35."You could spend every last dime on every world-renownedpsychiatrist, and they couldn't figure out this team," Karrossays.

The implosion is being conveniently blamed on the makeup of theDodgers' roster, which includes players from six countries andhas perhaps led to some culture conflict and to thecommunication gap between Russell and his pitchers. But moreimportant, Los Angeles has become a predictable righthandedteam. All five starters and the closer throw from the rightside, and even though Russell has tried 27 lineups in the last29 games, he has only righties in the heart of the battingorder. The Dodgers are 13th in the 14-team league in on-basepercentage and 12th in runs scored. Last Friday outfielder ToddHollandsworth, the '96 Rookie of the Year, who was batting only.232, was sent to the minors, and lefthanded hitting outfielderKarim Garcia, who batted .298 with 18 home runs and 56 RBIs in62 games with Triple A Albuquerque, was called up.

"We've been frustrated in past years, but never like this," sayscloser Todd Worrell. "I think everybody's fed up. If we keepplaying like this, we're going to have one long, miserable year."

GRIFFEY'S NEMESIS

Six times in his fledgling career Tigers lefthander JustinThompson has faced Ken Griffey Jr., and all six times Thompsonhas struck him out. The most lethal hitter in baseball has seen27 pitches from Thompson, and the results have been eight balls,four foul balls, three called strikes and 12 swinging strikes."What amazes me is how dominant he was in those strikeouts,"says Detroit pitching coach Rick Adair. "That's the best hitterin our league, and he's taking bad swings against a 24-year-oldkid with less than a year in the majors. That really putsJustin's talent in perspective."

No other active pitcher has struck out Griffey more than fourconsecutive times, but Thompson would much rather talk about a2-0 loss to the Orioles in May because that was his first majorleague complete game. And while Thompson was tied for sixth inthe American League with a 2.81 ERA at week's end, he prefers topoint out that he is among the league leaders in innings pitched(99 1/3).

His fascination with his workload stems from the times when hecouldn't throw at all. He was drafted by the Tigers out of KleinOak High in Spring, Texas, with the 32nd overall pick in the '91draft. He progressed quickly through the Detroit farm system,only to suffer an injury to his left elbow in spring training of'94 that knocked him out for the year. He spent the '95 seasonin the minors but made it to the majors last year--only toinjure his left shoulder after two promising starts. He missedfive weeks, then came back in August and finished the seasonwith 11 starts and a 4.58 ERA, which on a sorry staff was goodenough to qualify him as Detroit's ace.

"It seemed like every time I got to the mountaintop, somethingwould knock me off," Thompson says. "Those disappointmentsmellowed me out, and I came into this year with a better idea ofmy limits."

The sky, for instance. Throwing a 92-mph fastball, a nasty curveand a changeup, Thompson was limiting opponents to a .223average (fifth best in the league) after last Saturday's 1-0loss to the Expos, which left him 6-5. He has pitched at leastseven innings in his last eight starts and recently ran off 202/3 consecutive scoreless innings. Says Orioles first basemanRafael Palmeiro, "After Randy Johnson, he's the best lefthanderin the American League."

GRANDMASTER STAN

The phenomenon began innocently enough in the Reds' clubhousebefore a game in April when reliever Stan Belinda noticed RickyBones, who was then his teammate, carrying a chessboard. Belindachallenged him to a game. Righthander Jeff Brantley strolledover to watch and asked to play the winner. In the ensuing weeksteammates Mike Kelly, Joe Oliver, Eduardo Perez and MikeRemlinger joined the action, and Kent Mercker picked up the gamefor the first time. In all, about a dozen Cincinnati playershave caught chess fever, including Deion Sanders, who cansometimes be spotted castling as he seeks to transform himselfinto a three-sport star.

Last season the Reds' clubhouse was an arcade full of portablevideo games and deafening music. This season it is often ashushed as a library while as many as half a dozen battles arewaged at once. Says Remlinger, "Pretty soon we're going to havea cappuccino maker in the clubhouse, and we're all going to bedrinking cafe lattes."

The team's de facto chess commissioner is Belinda, who wasintroduced to the game at age six by his father, Stan Sr. By thetime young Stan reached the fourth grade, he was the chesschampion of Park Forest Elementary in State College, Pa.,regularly checkmating older students. Belinda has continued todabble in chess during his nine-year major league career, and hesees parallels between his two passions. "In chess you're alwayssetting up your opponent, thinking two or three moves down theroad," says Belinda, a setup man who at week's end was second inthe majors with 37 appearances this season. "As a pitcher Imight throw an inside fastball so that two pitches later I canstrike a guy out with a slider on the outside corner."

As the undisputed grandmaster of the team, Belinda has defeatedall challengers, which has led his teammates to begin callinghim Bobby Fischer. "I don't think I'm ready to take on Deep Bluequite yet," Belinda says. "But for now at least, I'm the chesschamp in Cincinnati."

The King of the Queen City.

COLOR PHOTO: TOM DIPACE Greg Gagne is a part of L.A.'s struggling righty hit parade. [Greg Gagne batting]COLOR PHOTO: DAVID LIAM KYLE Belinda likens his chess strategy to the way he works against a hitter. [Stan Belinda playing chess]

CHASING JOHNNY

On June 10 the Marlins' Kevin Brown became the 129th majorleaguer to throw a no-hitter, beating the Giants 9-0. That gavehim the chance to try to match one of the singular achievementsin baseball history: Johnny Vander Meer's back-to-backno-hitters for the Reds in 1938. But on Monday, Brown's bidended when the Tigers' Bob Hamelin singled to lead off thesecond. Here are the pitchers who went the longest before givingup a hit in their next start after pitching a no-hitter.

Before he became the premier postseason performer of his generation, the Patriots icon was a middling college quarterback who invited skepticism, even scorn, from fans and his coaches. That was all—and that was everything